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12
hrmonline.com.au
ETHICAL DILEMMA
THE QUESTION WAS ASKED OF ME ONCE,
"Are women responsible for keeping women suppressed?"
I prefer to think not, however experience keeps me grounded in
reality. Sometimes it is the case that women suppress or damage
other women's opportunities in the career stakes. Why?
There are many reasons and we have probably all heard many
theories, but the answer can sometimes be found in our own
innate behaviour.
At our core, we maintain instinctive animal behaviours which
means we are not immune to triggers that drive us in the fight for
survival. That fight is often about resource access and allocation.
Simply put, it's about supply and demand.
Scarcity has a direct impact on human behaviour. If
opportunities or resources are in limited supply (for example,
in the corporate sense, managerial roles) and demand among
women is high, innate genetic programming triggers behaviours
intended to give us an advantage in the battle for those limited
opportunities. Achieving advantage bestows individual
dominance on a person.
Dominance theory is all about preferential access to
opportunities or resources over someone else.
In studies of social animals, the highest-ranking individual is
often labelled the alpha. Both males and females can be alphas
and achieve that status through many means, including social
effort and building alliances. Those social efforts may not always
be positive.
Once the 'pecking order' is established, dominance is held
through competitive behaviours. The behaviour of the sub-
dominant animal is critical. If a dominant animal perceives
its status is threatened, it can then threaten the sub-dominant
individual. The sub-dominant must then either challenge the
dominant, or defer. It's often the behaviour of the sub-dominant
that maintains the dominance relationship, rather than the
dominant constantly asserting themselves.
In the corporate context, we need to consider the implications
of dominant theory, especially when it comes to what that might
drive in terms of initiatives around trying to achieve gender
balance in the workplace.
It means that we cannot ignore power plays and we need to
tackle behaviours on a number of levels. Stopping those who
dominate others is one step; empowering and building courage
among the sub-dominants is another.
But there is a more obvious root-cause intervention. Ensure that
supply of opportunities is sufficient so that dominance becomes
less of an issue.
Remember that this is about the fight for survival and
resources, and the supply issue lies at the heart of the situation.
The issue can only be resolved when we actually start offering
more opportunities for more women. We need to ensure there are
greater opportunities, in jobs, promotions, access to influencers,
recognition and support. Until that occurs, the risk is that
dominance theory will derail all gender initiatives, and be a drain
on organisations.
To add to this challenge, we find ourselves in a world where
traditional roles and opportunities are challenged by technology.
There will be fewer roles for all as we continue to digitise work.
We need to think about how we manage our way through this
supply/demand issue. If we continue to suggest that the solution
is for women to win more roles, then men must lose, and at a
greater rate than before. Dominance theory is only going to be
exacerbated as the supply/demand issue worsens.
There must be a significant shift towards more innovation and
entrepreneurship to provide more roles for all and in order to
achieve that, we will need to find ways to further support women
who want to invent and innovate.
We will need to recreate work, to create more opportunities.
MEAN GIRLS
With so few opportunities to progress into
leadership roles, is it any wonder that
competition between women is so fierce?
BY PROFESSOR PETRINA COVENTRY, FAHRI
"THIS IS A FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL AND
RESOURCES, AND THE SUPPLY ISSUE
LIES AT THE HEART OF THE SITUATION."